By BRAD McGRATH
MELBOURNE captain Jack Grimes says the Demons are drug-free and described the doping allegations engulfing the AFL as being “blown out of proportion”.
Grimes has not seen evidence of doping within AFL ranks and said it had shocked the Demons’ players when Essendon was named as a club suspected of breaking Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) rules.
“To hear about the investigation was a massive shock and I definitely wasn’t expecting that sort of thing to happen in the AFL,” said Grimes, who was in Casey last Tuesday with a handful of teammates for the Demons’ community camp.
“To be honest, I think a lot of it is blown out of proportion. I don’t really see it as a big problem in the AFL and definitely not at Melbourne.
“These days supplements and all these things we talk about are a big part of elite sports and there is obviously some stuff you steer clear of.
“A lot of clubs use supplements and they’re all very safe and we get them ticked off by ASADA and there is no real risk to it.
“I hope for Essendon’s sake they come out the other side of it and have a good year.”
Grimes said the Demons’ focus was on their opening NAB Cup games against North Melbourne and Richmond at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Grimes said experienced recruits Chris Dawes, Shannon Byrnes and David Rodan were setting the standards and father-son recruit Jack Viney and Jessie Hogan were already giving Demons’ fans some optimism after several bleak years.
Byrnes booted five goals in the Demons’ intra-club match at Casey Fields on Friday morning.
“It is always going to make a massive difference when you have 14 players go out of the club,” Grimes said.
“It’s almost a third of your list, but it’s all been positive and we’ve brought in a bit of a mix, some older more experienced guys and then the fresh draftees like Jessie Hogan, Jack Viney and [Andy] Toumpas.
“The key to it all is that they all have really good character.”
The Demons were engulfed in a storm of controversy last season. At a time when influential president Jim Stynes lost his battle with cancer, the team was accused of tanking under Dean Bailey’s reign and their on-field woes included losing nine straight games at the start of the season.
But Grimes backed second-year coach Mark Neeld to turn it around.
“Last year was obviously tough, for any coach to go through an initiation period like he did. Obviously 0-9 at the start of the year and a fair bit to go through off-field as well was really tough to him. He kept his head really well and all the other coaches around him supported him.
“Like everyone he just really wanted to put last year behind him.”
Melbourne clashes with St Kilda on March 9 at Casey Fields with tickets available through ticketmaster.com.au.
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